A new digital platform, ProGigFinder, is seeking to bridge the gap between people with skills and those looking to hire talent across Uganda and the wider African continent.
Founded by Ugandan technologist Allan Tumuhimbise Katungye, ProGigFinder is an open, two-sided marketplace designed to connect individuals and businesses with jobs, freelance gigs, and bookable services.
The platform allows users to participate both as workers and as hirers, creating a shared ecosystem where skills and opportunities can meet more easily.
Uganda continues to face a significant employment challenge. With more than 40 percent of young people aged 15–24 neither in employment nor education, and roughly 75 percent of the population under the age of 25, access to reliable work opportunities remains limited for many.
At the same time, millions of skilled workers operate within the country’s large informal sector. According to data from the International Labour Organization, about 95 percent of employment in Uganda is informal, leaving many capable workers without visibility or consistent access to job opportunities.
While talent exists, businesses and individuals seeking reliable and affordable services often struggle to find it through trusted channels.
ProGigFinder aims to address this disconnect by creating a digital space where workers can showcase their skills and employers can easily discover and hire them.
A Marketplace for Jobs, Gigs, and Services
The platform is designed to serve both individuals and businesses across multiple industries and skill levels.
For individuals, ProGigFinder offers several ways to participate. Users can apply for full-time or part-time jobs, compete for project-based gigs, or create freelancer profiles to highlight their skills and experience. The platform also allows users to offer bookable services — starting with cleaning services — enabling workers to connect directly with clients in their communities.
To support professional growth, ProGigFinder integrates artificial intelligence tools that help users refine their resumes, generate cover letters, and practice interview skills.
Businesses can also use the platform to post job openings, advertise project-based gigs, or provide services through the marketplace.
According to its founder, ProGigFinder was designed with African labour markets in mind, where formal and informal work frequently overlap.
Unlike many global platforms that focus on a single type of work, ProGigFinder combines traditional job listings, gig opportunities, freelancer discovery, and bookable local services within a single ecosystem.
The platform also integrates mobile money payments, allowing workers to receive earnings through commonly used local payment systems.
Another key feature is its open participation model: users are not restricted to a single role and can switch between working and hiring as their needs change.
The Story Behind the Idea
The idea for ProGigFinder was shaped by the personal experiences of its founder, Allan Tumuhimbise Katungye, a 28-year-old graduate of Uganda Christian University with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.
While studying at university, Katungye often took on side jobs to support himself. This sometimes meant walking from place to place asking if anyone needed help with work.
Through those experiences, he noticed a recurring pattern: people frequently had tasks that needed to be done, while others were willing and capable of doing them — yet there was no simple, trusted way to connect the two.
That observation evolved into a broader vision: a digital platform where individuals could easily find jobs or short-term gigs, and where skilled workers could directly offer their services.
With more than 150,000 graduates entering Uganda’s workforce each year, Katungye believes improving access to work opportunities is critical.
For Katungye, ProGigFinder is ultimately about expanding economic access.
By making skills more visible and simplifying the process of finding work or hiring talent, the platform aims to create a more open and flexible labour marketplace.
As the startup grows, its ambition is to extend beyond Uganda and serve users across Africa, helping connect millions of workers to opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach.